Steely thought leadership and stakeholder engagement

Steel is strong, yet Australia’s leading steel company, BlueScope Steel, had a less-than-acceptable media presence in vertical industry media. That is before Howorth designed a public relations program built around a thought leadership and stakeholder engagement strategy.

Part of Howorth’s public relations program was a campaign that resulted in over 50 media clippings over a six month period to promote BlueScope’s XLERPLATE®brand.

The importance of this media presence is underlined by key factors:

• All of the coverage was in-depth, rather than merely BlueScope or XLERPLATE® brand ‘mentions’
• The company’s credibility was enhanced through extensive use of technical education and thought leadership articles authored by its staff
• 3rd party endorsement of BlueScope was communicated through the use of case studies, where numerous industry partners and customers were featured and quoted.

Howorth’s public relations campaign successfully enhanced BlueScope’s industry leadership credentials across the vertical industrial sectors of most importance to it: mining, engineering and construction.

Howorth did this by discussing issues of importance to Australia’s steel-using community in the media and value-adding to stakeholders’ knowledge and expertise.

Content generated for media was also used in an upgraded direct mail customer newsletter, which was revamped with stronger, more valuable content. This delivered additional ROI for BlueScope and resulted in an integrated communication program, leading to a more pronounced impact on stakeholders than would have otherwise occurred.

The content was customised to users’ interests, adopted a hard-nosed journalistic approach and featured the perspectives of multiple stakeholders.

As such, the newsletter had more of an industry, as opposed to a purely BlueScope-oriented, perspective. This embracing of different perspectives and partnering with different stakeholders reinforced BlueScope’s collaborative approach to business and its inherent importance and value to the industries it is involved in.

Content developed for the newsletter was of such a high standard that the media embraced and used the copy. Examples of publications that featured coverage were Manufacturer’s Monthly, Mining Monthly, Materials Australia and Building Contractor. Other examples of media coverage included:

• ConstructionIndustryNews.net
• SupplyChainLogisticsNews.net
• International Longwall News

The campaign has generated a considerable degree of momentum with the media’s appetite for BlueScope content being stimulated and stakeholder awareness and advocacy on the rise.

Photography company snaps up key media coverage

Through target audience prioritisation, Howorth’s business to business public relations practice reached over 10 million Australians for iStockphoto by securing eight media interviews for its visiting Chief Operating Officer, Kelly Thompson.

Coverage was dominated by media considered top-tier by iStockphoto’s priority marketing and graphic design stakeholders:

• The Sydney Morning Herald and its online version
• The Age online
• The Brisbane Times online
• a seven minute live-to-air interview on Sky Business News discussing its groundbreaking business model (broadcast three times)
• an interview and podcast on SmartCompany.com.au
• two cover stories in top photography magazines

Howorth also facilitated Desktop Magazine, one of Australia’s top design publications, writing a feature on iStockphoto’s vector illustration art and Virgin Blue’s in-flight magazine, Voyeur, featuring a lengthy interview with Kelly.

Getting results
The client was thrilled with the results.

“Thank you immensely for your hard work. We are all thankful and impressed by your ability to reach this number of press,” said Kara Udziela director, public relations at iStockphoto.

Because of Howorth’s ability to emphasise Kelly’s unusual background and iStockphoto’s ingenuity, the Australian media embraced him despite having nothing new to announce and their scepticism towards visiting overseas CEOs and COOs.

Howorth’s strategy of target audience prioritisation paid off in quality coverage from top tier and target audience-relevant media.

iStockphoto revolutionised the photography industry by providing affordable images for creatives and an avenue for profit for photographers, catapulting it into becoming the world’s busiest image marketplace.

NRMA Kokoda Project: PR highlights successful HR

Howorth is a tech PR agency, right? So why did NRMA Motoring & Services hire Howorth to run a corporate public relations campaign?

Howorth offers both technology and business communication and was engaged to promote a unique human resources program called the NRMA Kokoda Project.

The PR strategy resulted in an influential profile raising campaign executed through business, consumer and vertical media.

About NRMA Kokoda Project
The Kokoda Track is a muddy jungle trail linking the North and South coasts of Papua New Guinea. It was the scene of bitter fighting between Australian and Japanese forces during World War Two and crosses some of the most rugged terrain in the world.

It was also chosen as the perfect location to stage a leadership exercise by NRMA Motoring and Services, a mutual company with 2 million members and 1,400 employees across Australia and New Zealand.

Devised by leadership consultant Bruce Hayman, the NRMA Kokoda Project employed a reality TV approach to solve a typical HR problem: encouraging a large workforce to work better together.

Howorth’s PR Solution
When the project finished, Howorth was engaged to work with NRMA’s in-house public relations team to generate coverage in leading business, consumer and regional media.

Playing to the strengths of the project spokespeople, interviews appeared across television, radio, print and online media, including the Australian Financial Review BOSS magazine, ABC radio, Sky News Business Channel, Qantas Inflight Radio, WIN TV, Canberra Times, Human Capital and numerous local and regional titles.

Howorth shortlisted for Asian Marketing Effectiveness Award

Howorth has been shortlisted in the 2009 Asian Marketing Effectiveness Awards. The nomination is for Howorth’s Livewire campaign, in the ‘Most Effective Use of PR’ category.

The Asian Marketing Effectiveness Awards seek to identify the region’s top creators, and reward insightful strategies that add value to consumers, and truly define and build habits.

The shortlisting for the award is the latest acknowledgment for Howorth’s work. Livewire is an initiative of the Starlight Children’s Foundation and the Howorth campaign, titled ‘new social network is a real Livewire for Australia’s sickest youths‘, has been hailed a massive success by media and health care professionals, Livewire member parents and the Starlight Children’s Foundation.

Winners will be announced on the 26th of May, 2009, but for more information on the awards or to check out the details, click here.

The power of social media… chk-chk BOOM!

Thanks to the power of social media and viral campaigns anyone can become a celebrity overnight. You’ve no doubt seen via your email, YouTube, Facebook, MySpace and Twitter accounts, how 19-year-old, Clare Werbeloff, has become an overnight celebrity for her colourful eyewitness report of a shooting in Kings Cross last Saturday night. She’s received so much media attention she’s hired a PR representative to manage her affairs.

This is a great example of the power of social and digital media campaigns, with rumours of Clare possibly bagging modelling, acting and entertainment reporting contracts from the coverage. Never mind her racist and inarticulate account of the shooting…

Questions have now been raised about this being a marketing stunt for the Toohey’s Extra Dry 6Beers campaign or The Projects marketing agency, as quoted on mUmBRELLA today. This is a highly doubtful scenario because no matter where you point a camera in Kings Cross there’ll be advertisements in the background. It would be a sad day if companies went to the extent of shooting someone for some publicity.

That aside, who knows where this might take Clare, so far she’s got quite the following – the news video was viewed more than 100,000 times this week and Clare now has nearly 900 followers on her Facebook fan page. People with ‘real’ talent can take years – even decades, if that at all – to get this kind of following. While no-one can underestimate the power of social media, it’s fair to say Clare’s no Jana Wendt and only real talent survives these explosive, short-lived bursts of fame (cue Corey Worthington nee Delaney).

I couldn’t help but think if social media (and Clare) were around in the 1980s, given the same situation, could this have even led to Clare becoming the star in John Farnham’s film clip ‘You’re The Voice’… try and understand it?!

Motorola rocks Australia with exclusive Silverchair gig

Howorth helped Motorola officially rock Australia, developing a major buzz campaign to launch its exciting Artist of the Month program.

Kicking off with an exclusive live gig for over 1,000 of Sydney’s hippest VIPs, fans and industry fanatics with Silverchair – the nation’s most popular chart topping band, the campaign achieved:

• Extensive pre and post-coverage hype reaching more than 13 million Australians across news, music lift-outs and social pages, including print media; SMH, The Sun Herald, The Daily Telegraph, The Courier Mail, The Newcastle Herald, 3DWorld, The Brag. TV; Channel 10’s Video Hits and MTV. Radio; FBI radio. Online media; ninemsn, news.com.au, The Music, Fasterlouder, PopRepublic, suburbanforce.com.au, musichead.com.au, mediasearch.com.au

• Strategic brand positioning for Motorola’s new Artist of the Month program via engagement with key influencers.

Campaign key steps

• Targeted giveaways in TV, major metropolitan newspapers, online and street press – promoting the Silverchair AOTM event, and leveraging the Artist of the Month website
• Influencer engagement and seeding program
• Extensive media outreach campaign covering Australia’s top rating music TV and radio programs, major newspapers and online sites
• Unique mobile downloads of Silverchair content for 3 mobile customers via Motorola’s Artist of the Month Program
• In-store promotion with 3 mobile, to win tickets to attend the exclusive album launch.

Media and influencers commented that:

• “The event was a delicious delight for sight and sound. A stellar venue for one of Australia’s best bands. Young Modern in on high rotation!” ~ Alex Thompson, InStyle Magazine ~

• “In short, the night ROCKED. The whole event was really well orchestrated and made guests feel we were part of something very special.” ~ Emma Vidgen, New Woman Magazine ~

Luxury phone gets style-setting kick off

To launch Motorola’s new MOTORAZR2 V8 Luxury Edition phone and re-establish the company’s position as Australia’s ‘must-have’ designer mobile phone brand, Howorth utlised global brand ambassador, David Beckham, and a four pronged media strategy.

The campaign quadrupled target expectations:

• A whopping reach of over 34 million Australians was achieved within just two weeks
• More than 100 media hits across TV, radio, online and print
• A complete sell-through of stock within two months!

Having been allocated just one hour of the star’s time, Howorth’s strategy maximised the star’s appeal, but controlled access and messaging around the celebrity. This helped ensure positive pick-up around the product.

Campaign outline
Key steps:

• Pre-launch buzz created through media partnerships with Australia’s top radio, print and TV media including Nova, mX and The Morning Show
• An exclusive Sydney high-octane VIP meet-and-greet
• Exclusive press conference
• National media alerted via a digital news release to ensure widespread coverage.

The campaign was delivered within a three-month timeframe and on budget, yet sustained buzz for months following. The coverage from the launch and MOTRAZR 2 V8 Lux still generated talk and coverage up to one year later.

Beckham, an international football star and world-leading style icon, was in Australia to play for his team, LA Galaxy FC.

Stephen Amiet, National Marketing Manager, Motorola Mobile Devices, said:

“Howorth delivered an awesome campaign and the results are an amazing testament to the creativity, professionalism and superior organisational skills of the Howorth team.

“Our international guests, friends at Optus and attending media commented that it was one of the smoothest product launches they have ever attended.

“We could not have been happier, especially in relation to the way the positive coverage and reviews of the V8 Lux phone led to sell through of the product at retail.

“It was great to see the story covered in the evening news on every commercial TV station and on the front page of MX that afternoon. We wanted to stop traffic…and George St was mayhem!”

Steve Ballmer visits Sydney

Sydney was abuzz during Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer’s November 2008 visit and Howorth harnessed the excitement to secure extensive traditional and digital media coverage. The PR outreach served to bolster Microsoft’s presence in the Australian online media and underline its position as a technology visionary.

Ballmer was exclusively interviewed by Lateline Business and AFR BOSS magazine; appeared at Telstra’s Investor Day following a partnership announcement by Microsoft and Telstra; and spoke at a Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) luncheon.

A highlight was Microsoft Australia’s ‘Liberation Day’ developer event. More than 800 developers and 16 members of the media (including bloggers) flocked to the Sydney Convention Centre to hear Ballmer speak on cloud computing and Windows 7, with bloggers and Twitter enthusiasts filing directly from the auditorium.

Journalists unable to attend watched a live Webstream. Howorth also managed press interviews for Gianpaolo Carraro, Senior Director, Microsoft Corporation and Tim Sneath, Director, Microsoft Corporation.

This event alone resulted in more than 25 pieces of coverage in publications including The Australian, The Australian Financial Review, PC Authority, iTnews, iTWire, PC Authority and Sky Business News. In total, Ballmer’s two-day visit generated more than 60 pieces of coverage for Microsoft, the majority of which appeared online.

Big stunts capture Australia’s attention

To launch Microsoft’s Windows Vista, Howorth developed a series of unique Australia Day stunts entitled ‘Look up and smile’, capturing the pride and beauty of our national day. The campaign was successfully integrated into celebrations Australia wide and helped Microsoft achieve enhanced community goodwill towards its brand through:

• support from each of the State Premiers in their Australia Day speeches
• intensive media coverage that reached more than 19 million Australians.

Coverage featured 130 stories and included radio news; talkback radio, TV news, print media, including the front page of The West Australian and online news.

Stunt highlights

Australians from all walks of life were encouraged to participate in one of many aerial photographs, or in specially created events across the country.

• Sydney-siders gathered at Centennial Park to create a massive multi-coloured map of Australia. This represented Australia’s unity in freedom and democracy, as well as the diversity of our many walks of life, religions and backgrounds
• At Kirra Beach on the Gold Coast, Australians were photographed creating an image of a red and yellow lifesaver’s cap, featuring nippers to granddads to honour 100 years of surf life saving in Australia
• In New Norcia, Western Australia, a massive 100m x 90m artwork was recreated from an image painted by three artists of the Indigenous Yuat people to reflect Australia’s unity and path towards reconciliation.

Campaign key steps

• Through close partnership with the National Australia Day Council of Australia, Howorth carefully positioned Microsoft – an ‘American’ company – so that it was not was seen to be taking over Australia’s national day
• Howorth encouraged Australians to help create three enormous artworks at large scale events in NSW, QLD and WA and participate in its aerial photography
• Howorth also worked with Microsoft to assist local committees, service clubs and other community organisations to participate by hosting their own Australia Day event. By taking their own photograph and uploading images and uploading their images to www.lookupandsmile.com.au, these groups were eligible to win $5,000.

The media – trends for 2009

It became apparent, after reading Parker and Partners’ Trends for 2009 that all media, even the online species, are going to struggle in 2009.

In Trends 2009, Parker and Partners (P&P) note that 2008 was categorised by the decline of traditional media and the substantial growth of social media, yet even affordable online advertising will struggle in 2009. “Things are going to get much worse before they get any better,” said P&P.

“The print media will continue to face the dilemma of trying to maintain strong sales while putting content online for free,” asserted P&P. “Even online revenue cannot replace the revenue that was generated by print – particularly classifieds – and a major overhaul will be necessary to make the print media profitable.”

Interestingly, Parker and Partners also note that Australia’s current crop of ministers are generally far more tech-savvy than their predecessors, presenting some interesting opportunities to engage with both them and the broader community people through new channels like social media.

“It seems that everyone is reaping the benefits of social networking including Barak Obama,” Parker and Partners said. “He changed the course of political engagement forever, engaging voters through social media and raising over US$600 million through small online donations into the bargain.”

Overall, Parker and Partners believe that with the current economic situation, marketing and advertising through the social media will continue to grow as companies look for cheaper options to reach their audience:“2009 will be a watershed year for web 2.0”, so say the P&P brains trust.

To read more about Parker and Partners predications for 2009, please email pr@howorth.com.au for a full copy of the report.